Chelsea Newbold
- Ph.D. Candidate
- Co-Advised by: Dr. Sharifa Crandall and Dr. Gretchen Kuldau
University Park, PA 16802
- Email cln68@psu.edu
- Pronouns They/Them
Areas of Expertise
- Phytomycology
- Microbial Ecology (Fungi)
- Agroecology
- Maize Pathology
- Phytobiome Sampling Strategies
Education
- AA, Natural Science from Pasadena City College 2015
- BS - Ecological, Evolutionary, and Organismal Biology from California State University Monterey Bay 2018
- MS - Plant Pathology from Oregon State University 2021
Theo’s work explores the agricultural drivers, both biotic and abiotic, of foliar fungal endophyte communities in maize. Theo’s work merges plant pathology and microbiome science to explore fungal communities, including isolation and culturing of fungi, PCR, amplicon-based sequencing, and database curation. Agricultural drivers of interest to Theo’s work include cover crops, nontarget fungicide effects, organic vs conventional management, drought stress, host genotype, and maize development.
Theo is also a Foundation for Food and Agriculture fellow (2023-2026) who works collaboratively with Pasa Sustainable Agriculture on their long-term soil health benchmark study, exploring the relationship between agrochemical amendments (e.g. fertilizers, herbicides, etc.) and soil health factors in row crops.
Theo has long-term career interests in industry, government, and/or policy.
Theo believes in the power of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in the sciences and for whoever scientific research serves.
